Sounds Like A Cult - The Cult of Leonardo DiCaprio

Episode Date: March 11, 2025

From ‘90s teen heartthrob to yacht-hopping, model-dating, climate-crusading enigma, Leonardo DiCaprio isn’t just an actor—he’s an institution. But at what point does the behavior of this Oscar-winning icon cross into something a little more… cultish? This week, Amanda is joined by Caitlin Durante of The Bechdel Cast to take a deep dive into the Church of Leo, unpacking the eerie loyalty of his fans, the oddly specific habits of his inner circle (no one over 25 shall pass), and the ways in which his environmental activism is both inspiring and contradictory. Why does Hollywood treat Leo like the last true movie star? Is he just an A-lister with a type, or is there something deeper (and maybe a little weirder) going on in his revolving door of Victoria’s Secret protégées? And most importantly—are we in the cult of DiCaprio just by watching Titanic for the 100th time? Tune in as we break down the mythology, the memes, and the man in the iron mask. 🚢🌍🔥 Subscribe to Sounds Like A Cult on Youtube! Follow us on IG @soundslikeacultpod, @amanda_montell, @reesaronii, @chelseaxcharles.  Thank you to our sponsors! Head to https://www.squarespace.com/CULT to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code CULT Find exactly what you’re booking for on https://Booking.com, Booking.YEAH! Start earning points on rent you’re already paying by going to https://joinbilt.com/CULT Please consider donating to those affected by the Los Angeles Fires. Some organizations that Team SLAC are donating to are:  https://mutualaidla.org/ https://give.pasadenahumane.org/give/654134/#!/donation/checkout https://shorturl.at/SGW9w Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The views expressed on this episode, as with all episodes of Sounds Like a Cult, are solely host opinions and quoted allegations. The content here should not be taken as indisputable fact. This podcast is for entertainment purposes only. Hi, Sounds Like a Cult. My name is Amanda. And one of the cultiest things that I think about Leonardo DiCaprio is the fact that we all call him Leo and we know exactly who we're talking about. Hi, this is Alex from Philadelphia. The cultiest thing about Leonardo DiCaprio is that he's always referred to as having boyish charm and yet he's constantly snubbed by awards and he just doesn't seem to have the same amount of spotlight and love

that others get. So I've always wondered if there was something sinister there. Leonardo DiCaprio is culty because his dating of only 25-year-old women and younger. I think he's stuck and I think that maybe a good cross section of society is stuck there too. This is Sounds Like a Cult, a show about the modern day cults we all follow. I'm your host Amanda Montell, author of the books Cultish and The Age of Magical Overthinking. Every week on this podcast you're going to hear about a different cultish group from the zeitgeist, from momfluencers to church camp, to try and answer the big question. This group sounds like a cult, but is it really?

Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!

Ah! And if so, which of our cult categories does it fall into? A live your life, a watch your back, or a get-the-fuck-out level cult? After all, not every modern-day group that looks all fanatical and fringy is actually all that destructive, and yet there are plenty of groups

that seem totally acceptable and mainstream, yet they could low-key ruin your life in a cultish way. Sometimes those people are celebrities, heartthrobs, movie stars. A movie star can be a cult leader, or they could just be a cult-followed cutie pie. That's what this show is all about, discussing, getting down to the nitty gritty, is your cult-followed fave Loki Jim Jones? And actually, when it comes to today's guest, that is more of a discussion than you might think.

Anyway, I am honored to be joined by, I would say someone who has maybe, if there existed a PhD in Leonardo DiCaprio, you would have it. Well, if there was a PhD in the movie Titanic, specifically, yes. In Leonardo DiCaprio, I can speak to him and that's why I'm here.

And that is why you are here. If you are listening to and even enjoying this episode of the podcast and want to go deeper, I have a book recommendation for you. This is your host Amanda, by the way, and the book is called The Age of Magical Overthinking and I wrote it. I poured my heart into this book and I really think you might like it. It's about delusion and obsession in the information age, and how the ways in which our minds naturally work are clashing with our current culture. Every chapter explores some confounding irrationality from contemporary society, including extreme

cycles of celebrity worship and dethronement, mass embrace of Instagram manifestation gurus during times of crisis, and why our bodies sometimes enter literal fight or flight in response to something as objectively non-threatening as a curt email from a co-worker. The book blends social science with pop culture analysis and personal stories. And if you prefer audiobooks, I recorded mine myself, so it's kind of like an extension of the podcast. Again, the book is called The Age of Magical Overthinking, Notes on Modern Irrationality, and it's available wherever books are sold,

your local indie bookstore, bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, or even that one massive online book retailer run by a coal leader. You know the one. So if you enjoy this podcast, I really hope you'll consider checking out the book. This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace, the all-in-one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online. One thing that makes Squarespace super special is its design intelligence feature, which combines two decades of industry-leading design expertise with cutting

edge AI technology. Not to mention, Squarespace Payments is the easiest way to manage your payments in one place all within Squarespace. And if you happen to be a business owner who sells content, you can list online courses or photos or videos or blog posts behind a paywall on Squarespace. I'm personally a fan of Squarespace. Go to soundslikeacult.com, you'll see why. So, head to Squarespace.com

for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch, go to Squarespace.com slash cult to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Again, check out Squarespace.com for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch, head to Squarespace.com slash cult to save 10% on your first purchase of a website or domain. This episode of Sounds Like A Cult is brought to you by Booking.com. Booking. Yeah. Every time I use Booking.com to find a hotel or a vacation stay in the US, I find exactly what I'm looking for.

I'm planning a trip to New York. I want to stay somewhere chic in SoHo, but I don't want to spend an arm and a leg. And yesterday, when I started doing my little hotel search, I went straight to Booking.com because they have such a huge variety of options. All kinds of hotels, all kinds of vacation stays. Seriously, it has something for everyone. Truly, no matter who you are, Booking.com

helps you find the stay that's ridiculously right for you. Find exactly what you're booking for on booking.com. Booking.yeah. I am honored to be joined by Caitlin Durante, one of the two iconic voices behind the Bechdelcast podcast. Caitlin, thank you so much for joining Sounds Like a Cult. Oh my gosh, thank you so much for having me.

I'm so delighted to be here. So it's just gonna be me and Caitlin today. For those who might be wondering what the rhyme or reason may be for when I solo host an episode versus when my glorious co-host, Reese and Chelsea are here, it literally just has to do with scheduling. Chelsea and Reese both work slash go to school full time. I got another full time gig too. That's just the context for like the 12 people who care. Anywho, speaking of flying solo,

we've discussed a lot of cults on the show of individual male celebrities, right? So from Jared Leto to Neil Gaiman. But my first impression of the cult of Leo is less that he is himself a cult leader and more that he is just one of these sort of cult followed figures, the sort of, I don't know, Timmy Chalamet of his day. So it'll be really interesting to discuss where the boundary separating cult leader and

cult followed figure might be and I'm super fascinated to be here with you Caitlin to interview someone who has thought oh so very much about this man all in an effort to figure out where he lands along our culty spectrum. Happy to be here. So, Caitlin, I had the joy and the pleasure of appearing on your delightful podcast, The Bechtel Cast, to talk about the film, Poor Things. Just to intro the culties to you and your work,

could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your connection to Titanic slash Leonardo DiCaprio? Happy to. So my podcast is called the Bechtelcast. It is named after the Bechtel test, which I imagine most people are familiar with by now, but if you're not, it's a media metric. The general version is a movie or piece of media will pass the Bechtel test if two women speak to each other about something other than a man. So my co-host, Jamie Loftus, and I took this very basic jumping off point and used it as a springboard to talk about movies through an intersectional feminist lens. So we do

spend a minute or two of every episode discussing whether or not the movie we are examining passes the Bechtel test, but the rest of the other two hours that we're talking is just examining the movie through an intersexual feminist lens and then connecting that back to Leonardo DiCaprio, to Titanic, and other of his movies, because I guess other ones exist besides Titanic. So Jamie and I found out early on into the podcast that we were both obsessed with the movie Titanic. So we have done upwards of eight or nine episodes on Titanic. We haven't covered any other movie more than once. Most of them are behind our Patreon, but we can't stop talking about Titanic. We can't stop talking about Leonardo DiCaprio. We've also covered Wolf of Wall Street pretty recently. We've done Inception on the show Romeo plus Juliet.

Nicole Zichalos You know, I'm not in the cult of Titanic the same way that you are, but my best friend is. So for her 30th birthday, alongside another one of her friends, I planned this quite over the top Titanic themed surprise 30th birthday party. I purchased a Leonardo DiCaprio life-size cutout for $100. Why are they so expensive? I don't know, that's wild, but good on you.

Thank you. Yeah, the main activity of the birthday was I got her a very slinky piece of rosy lingerie and she laid about a sofa and all of the guests had to paint her like one of Jack's French girls. And she chose a winner who won a Titanic themed prize. It was a little seashell lamp. It was very cute.

I just needed to express that like I have dipped a toe into the world. I love that for you. You're describing my dream party. I kind of am upset that I was not invited to this, even though I don't know your friend. It reminds me of, remember when Adele threw herself a birthday party and it was Titanic themed and she's very rich so she was able to afford very decadent costumes and just what I'm saying is I want a Titanic themed party and I haven't had one and it's a crime. There's just so much fodder at such a rich real life event and also such a robust film and really obviously set the stage for Leonardo DiCaprio to become not just

a famous actor but a cult-followed figure. We will see if this episode of Sounds Like a Cult passes the fucking Bechdel test. A lot of our episodes don't because famously cult leaders are men. Tend to be men. Not always. Gwyneth Paltrow, we see you. Teal Swan, we see you. Anywho, Caitlyn, when we were coordinating this episode, it was because we had gotten acquainted. We were trying to think of a film related cult to cover on the show that you felt passionate about. The two options that you and Jamie put forth

were Titanic slash Leonardo DiCaprio and Shrek. I gravitated towards Shrek because that's demented and strange and truly fringe. And the cult of Shrek that you had only just started breaking down for me, I was like, how is Shrek a cult? You started breaking down the rituals and the culture. And I was like, that's fucking bonkers. I really wanna do that.

But I also don't want to sabotage my listenership. Let's have the listeners vote on what they would rather hear about. And unfortunately slash fortunately, the cult of Leonardo DiCaprio won. Hopefully one day we'll get to do the cult of Shrek, just for me, just for us. I understand though,

why people wanted us to cover Leonardo DiCaprio because he represents such a wide spectrum of things that the word cult can mean. Like, he is a cult-followed figure, but he also has some more serious culty controversies under his belt. When I say the cult of Leonardo DiCaprio to you, Caitlin, what instantly comes to mind? I would say the two things that people are kind of obsessed with regarding him are his dating history and his failure to get an Oscar for so long and being constantly snubbed and then finally getting one and then being snubbed again several times and people's obsession

with whether or not he has as many Oscars as they think he deserves. Okay, okay. And both have to do with fanaticism because he is at once this former heartthrob who has sort of like fallen from grace, but also he's an underdog because he hasn't been awarded the accolades that his fans think he deserves. And that sort of like, push pull of being like, a creep but an underdog, a heartthrob but a creep. That is such a recipe for cult-like fascination. I wanted to set up just some fast facts

about Leonardo DiCaprio. So Leonardo DiCaprio, full name, Leonardo, do you know his middle name? Yes, I do. Wilhelm? We've got Leonardo DiCaprio and then Wilhelm? Like where, where did that? It's just, I don't. Cause his mother has German heritage, I believe.

That comes through. That comes in Leo's visage. Well, actually I'm just going to turn these fast bio facts into a quiz. Do you know his birthdate? Oh my gosh, I should know this because we do kind of observe it on the Bechtel cast sometimes. Like a holiday? We'll like post about well, not to be getting off topic so soon, but something that I feel like it's left out of the idea of

Leonardo as a cult figure or just, you know, the following of Leonardo Caprio is how often he is in his movies, fully clothed and underwater, swimming around, he falls in the water. It happens like in nine of his movies and it's fascinating. So we made a post about it. And then every so often, usually on his birthday, we'll be like, happy birthday to the actor who apparently has it in his contract that he be underwater fully clothed. Maybe subconsciously or if I were taking a conspiratorial stance, consciously. These writers and directors are like, the fans expect motif where a Leonardo DiCaprio is being heroic

But being underwater you're like a little vulnerable. Ooh, it's like a kind of juxtaposition of masculinity and femininity that position I feel okay. Yeah, I mean I like where this is going I was thinking when he's not like fully submerged in water in his clothes He's often being like rained on so in other movies where he's not all the way underwater, there will be wetness, water splashing on him, rain coming down on him. So he's always wet, basically, is the point. And I also think it contributes to, it's just more dramatic when there's a downpour on the actors, a big climactic moment or a big profession of love. It's more dramatic when there's rain.

So I think honestly, the rain and the wetness is used by the filmmakers to kind of trick us into thinking he's a better actor than he is. Okay, here we are already. I know we're still on the trivia of when his birthday is, which I don't know. All's to say he was born on November 11th, 1974. Okay, good for him.

11, 11, make a wish. Very lucky. We're also recording this episode the year that he turns 50. So he is now officially twice as old as the cutoff age for his romantic partner. Numerology numbers. Okay. He was born in LA. That's right. Numerology, numbers. Okay.

He was born in LA. He's an LA native. He was baptized by the cult of Hollywood. And his breakthrough role, one could say, was, Caitlin, do you know? The film was 1993's. What's Eating Gilbert Grape? This Boy's Life.

Okay, that one too. But What's Eating Gilbert Gilbert grape was also 93. You're absolutely right. Just to rattle off some of his best known projects for those who dare not to know, we already mentioned Romeo plus Juliet. He's delish in that. I just rewatched it on VHS.

Titanic came in 97. Then in 2002, he starts to get a little more edgy. We've got gangs of New York. In 04, we've got the Aviator. Now we're moving into Martin Scorsese territory with The Departed. In 2010, when I graduated high school, we got Inception. Okay, dream within a dream.

Now we're coming to The Wolf of Wall Street, The Revenant. Once upon a time in Hollywood, came in 2019. What has he done since? Just surfed with young girls. Allegedly. I'm making that up. He's not a criminal, all right? That we know of.

He was in that Don't Look Up. And then he was also in Killers of the Flower Moon, which I am halfway through. And I have been halfway through for about three months. Long one. Okay, other than the water motif, does anything about Leo's filmography, the roles that he plays, the directors that he works with,

anything at all give cult to you? The closest thing I could think of would be his constant collaboration with Martin Scorsese in particular. You know, Scorsese, he's an auteur. He's someone who, when he finds an actor he likes working with, he casts them again and again. We've seen this with his relationship with Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, you know, a handful of others. And Leonardo DiCaprio is one of them because they've done Gangs of New York, Shutter Island, The Departed, Wolf of Wall Street as well,

and then Killers of the Flower Moon. There are these like director actor collaborations with like, for example, Tim Burton and Johnny Depp that do feel cultier the way that, I don't know, both of those people are just very problematic and a lot of the fans and followers of those movies and that duo are just like, what's the big deal? It's fun. It's quirky. It's dark. Totally. It creates a cult of personality A that comes with lore and aesthetic. And

of course an in-group. You know how Wes Anderson has that clique of actors that he always works with. And I was also thinking how celebrity power couples are kind of bigger than the sum of their parts in terms of stardom and people get totally enamored and attached to them almost in this like parasocial parent child way. That's almost how these Hollywood cliques can feel too. It's an identity at that point, if that makes sense. It does make sense and I totally agree.

I think maybe another component of this, and I'm having this thought in real time, so forgive me if it's kind of half-baked, but I find that a lot of the characters that Leonardo DiCaprio plays, and you could also isolate specifically the ones that he has done with Martin Scorsese in those movies. But I think also generally, he's playing these often men who are very flawed. And sometimes the movie recognizes that and sometimes the movie doesn't. And for the movies that doesn't, it's just sort of like presenting this, but he's still such a charismatic and handsome, cool guy. And isn't that that awesome and isn't that so cool? And then even for the ones where there is an acknowledgement of this guy being very

flawed such as his character in the Wolf of Wall Street, which is a biopic about a real person Jordan Belfort, right? But when you cast Leonardo DiCaprio in a role like that, it's telegraphing to the audience like no, this guy is actually kind of cool. And even though we see his downfall, we don't really necessarily remember that part of the movie. And we actually had a discussion about this on the Wolf of Wall Street episode because that movie is almost identical to an earlier Scorsese movie, Good

Fellas that came out nearly 20 years before. But that movie, I think does a better job of like showing also real life person, Henry Hill and his downfall and all of the like, you know, hubris and toxic behavior and toxic masculinity that contribute to that. But a movie that comes out a couple decades after that and has a very similar structure and is about a very similar guy who rises to prominence and wealth and then has an undoing. But I don't know the way that the Leo character is framed in Wolf of Wall Street is like, people are still like, oh, but he was so cool and isn't it awesome how rich he was and how many women he had sex with?

And isn't that so inspiring? So, I don't know, I think the characters he tends to play contribute to this toxicity and idea of masculinity that ends up being really toxic that I think a lot of his fans and followers are just like, yeah, this is an aspirational guy and his characters are aspirational. Ah, yeah, that is such an interesting take on how the charisma of a cult-followed actor can subtly sort of glorify the anti-heroes that he plays. And that point that you're making makes me think, I had an intuition looking at his filmography that there was a kind of cultish progression.

I'm speaking with hyperbole here, but if I dare make the connection, usually an actual cult leader, like Marshall Applewhite of Heaven's Gate or a Keith Raniere will start out with kind of an innocuous idea or something really silly or just more acceptable. Like, let me put it this way,

Marshall Applewhite of Heaven's Gate's first idea was not let's all kill ourselves in order to board an imaginary spacecraft that will take us to the kingdom of heaven, right? Like it started out more innocent and then it escalated. I don't know if this was just opportunistic. I can't imagine that someone like planned this out for Leonardo DiCaprio's career.

But the fact that he started out as this romantic lead, this like charming, innocent, I mean, he was such an underdog in some of those earlier projects like what's eating Gilbert grape and this boy's life. And then he became this heartthrob that an entire generation was just goo goo ga ga. And so he established himself as a Harry Styles, Justin Bieber type,

only to then go on and play these very problematic men in these violent films, but he'd already made America fall in love with him. So it's like a sneaky way to introduce an audience to the idea that like a cute boy can get away with anything. Yeah, because he's this heartthrob in Romeo and Juliet and especially Titanic and that's kind of the instigator of this Leo mania. And never again does he play any kind of like heartthrob character or like romantic lead that would

encourage the audience to be like, Oh, I want to be with him. His little blonde locks falling into his eyes as he draws you like one of his French girls. That doesn't happen again for the rest of his career. I don't think. think. He goes on to do a few movies in the late 90s that were mostly like critical flops slash things that like have mostly been forgotten by the zeitgeist like man with the iron mask. He kind of falls off for a little while. And I think he was like deliberately trying to distance himself from this like heartthrob, Leo mania persona. That's not the actor he wanted to be. So then he comes back a few years later with things like gangs of New York and catch me if you can, which is a little lighter tonally and it's a Spielberg movie and stuff like that. But I think he was like

gangs in New York. This is what I want to be doing. Because pretty much every movie after this, with a few exceptions, but it's a lot of other collaborations with Scorsese, a lot of serious biopics. He's in stuff like the Aviator, he's in Blood Diamond, he's in The Departed, he's in Revolutionary Road, teaming up with Kate Winslet again. But both of them were like, we don't want to do another Titanic. Let's do something where our relationship is utterly failing. So he's like trying to distance himself from this. And by the mid 2000s, I think he's successfully done that. And then it's interesting because he goes from being this like teeny bopper heartthrob at the not onset of his career, because there were a few roles in the earlier 90s,

like we were talking about This Boy's Life and What's Eating Gilbert Grape. But during his come up. During his come up, right. And then he basically goes on to take pretty much nothing but character actor roles, which is interesting because he's kind of one of the few A-lister movie star, like bonafide celebrity actors

who's also a character actor. Like Johnny Depp, another person who we could do a whole Sounds Like a Call and should do a whole Sounds Like a Call episode about. Right. And it's occurring to me how sinister it is that in order for an actor to be taken seriously in Hollywood, they have to reject things

that girls and young women like. Oh my gosh. Yeah. No, in order to win an Oscar or to try really, really, really, really hard for a long time to win an Oscar and fail and then finally succeed. But you know what I mean? That's Leo's story. I have to slough off this persona that makes women interested in me and my work because that's frivolous and that is not Oscar worthy. Instead, I have to be this violent anti-hero in order to be respected. And I find that so culty, reflective of the larger cult of Hollywood and also probably reflective of some values that he holds. I would say so based on his behavior in life.

I have two other examples of this, and I'm sure there are more, but the two that pop to mind are Matthew McConaughey. There's a long chunk of his career in the late 90s, early 2000s, that he's pretty much only doing rom-coms, and he's doing a really bad job in them, and he never has chemistry with any of the romantic leads

he's paired with. And you know, he was like, whatever, People magazine, sexiest man alive all these times. He was also this like heartthrob guy. And he shed that and now he does these kind of serious roles. And now people take him seriously as an actor. And before that, he was like, oh, that's just the guy who's in the romcom. So therefore that can't be taken seriously. And the other example is Robert Pattinson blowing up as the co-lead in the Twilight movies. And you know, were those movies good? No, were they very problematic? Yes. But there is something about movies, or just media in general, that is targeted toward teens and tweens and young girls and young women that, like you said, get so dismissed by the pretentious Hollywood elites

that even if there are examples of movies like that being really good, they'll still be dismissed. But anyway, he wasn't taken seriously as an actor until he got away from Twilight and started doing these other roles. So yeah, it's a common trend. The all-in-one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just starting out or managing a growing brand, Squarespace makes it easy to create a beautiful website, engage with your audience, and sell absolutely anything from products to content, even your valuable time. One thing that makes Squarespace super special is its design intelligence feature, which combines two decades of industry-leading design expertise with cutting-edge AI technology to unlock

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And if you happen to be a writer or a photographer or a business owner who sells content, you can list online courses or photos or videos or blog posts behind a paywall on Squarespace. You simply set the price and then choose whether to charge a one-time fee or a subscription. I'm personally a fan of Squarespace. Go to soundslikeacult.com, you'll see why. So head to squarespace.com for a free trial,

and when you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com slash cult to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Again, check out squarespace.com slash cult to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Again, check out squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to launch, head to squarespace.com slash cult to save 10% on your first purchase of a website or domain. This episode of Sounds Like a Cult is brought to you by Booking.com. Booking dot yeah.

All right, I'm being very sincere when I tell you that every time I use booking.com to find a hotel or a vacation stay in the US, I find exactly what I'm looking for. I just did this the other day. I'm planning a trip to New York. I wanna stay somewhere chic in SoHo, but I don't wanna spend an arm and a leg. And yesterday, when I started doing my little hotel search,

I went straight to booking.com because they have such a huge variety of options. All kinds of hotels, all kinds of vacation stays. Seriously, it has something for everyone. I actually remember using booking.com last year in Portland when I was on book tour. I loved that hotel. It came with robes.

There's nothing like a night in a hotel, in a hotel robe, watching hotel TV. Truly, no matter who you are, Booking.com helps you find the stay that's ridiculously right for you. Find exactly what you're booking for on Booking.com. Booking.yeah. So Caitlin, my next question for you is,

while we were sort of like arranging this recording, we were on an email thread with some podcasty people. And when I mentioned that we were doing this topic, one of those podcasty people chimed in and was like, oh my God, I'm in this cult. She said, holy shit, I can't wait to listen to this episode. I used to have a fan Tumblr dedicated to Leonardo DiCaprio. It's still up. The little bio says like mentally married to Leonardo DiCaprio. She said she had every single one of his movies on Blu ray. I don't know this backstory behind this, why this came to pass, but she had scientifically named a

spider after him that is now in a published journal. What gonna need to do some follow up on that. Could you talk about how Leonardo DiCaprio's role as a 90s heartthrob is different from other heartthrobs before or after him in a culty capacity? Oh gosh. Well, I wonder if some of it has to do with the fact that, and this might be controversial of me to say, but he's not necessarily a classically handsome man in the way that heartthrobs, many before and since, have been these kind of like rugged cowboy types or

like action movie heartthrobs with glistening muscles and like a James Dean, a James Dean. You've got your like Harrison Ford in the eighties and Leonardo Caprio. He's like scrawny, especially. And I'm talking about like him in his heartthrob era, which is like Romeo and Juliet and Titanic 1996, 1997, he has somewhat feminine features to his face. He has this hair that just kind of flops around. He doesn't have the same type that Western culture has deemed to be like, ooh, this is the ideal man with his like swashbuckling cowboy demeanor and that kind of thing. So I don't know how much that has to do with. Well, I think what it has to do with it is that he appealed to the very, very, very,

very young. Like he was attractive to a 12 year old, like a 12 year old has crushes on the boys in her school. An 18, 20, 25 year old Leonardo DiCaprio almost looked like a boy in her school. He had a very boyish look. Where yeah, like 12 year old girls aren't looking at a 40 year old Harrison Ford and being like, hubba hubba, they're like, ooh, that's a gross old man.

But they look at Leonardo DiCaprio and Titanic and they're like, that could be my boyfriend. Yes, so in a way, he shaped a generation. People have been in love with him since they were 10 years old, or younger. So that's powerful. That is powerful. And it's difficult to talk about this

without sounding extremely judgmental or ageist or any number of things. But he hasn't aged as well as many of his other Hollywood counterparts. He's got the whole dad bod thing going on now and he has for a decade or more kind of thing. And people just, they're like, who cares? He's Leonardo DiCaprio. I don't find him especially handsome. I think we might be getting off topic here, but I've never been someone who's like, he's so cute. His character in Titanic like kind of does it for me, but like not even totally. Well, I mean, cult leaders are sex symbols, regardless of their appearance. Like a successful

cult leader, and I like shudder to call them successful, but like cult leaders who we can name became that way because they established themselves as sex symbols not necessarily because they were hot but they have this amazing way of creating intimacy like that's what love bombing is like you have this way of making everyone that you encounter feel like you get them like you are speaking uniquely to them and I think there was something really intimate about those heartthrob years with Leonardo DiCaprio's movies. And I think that also has to do with the underdog thing and the youth and whatever

and like him playing poor characters and, you know, more boyish characters. It wasn't just his appearance. There was intimacy there. And that's Colty. So true. He just seems relatable, especially in those heartthrob years. He has, again, this face that just seems inviting. And I think it's because, again, he just seems like a boy who might be in your class. Yeah, or a girl. Or a girl. I feel like Leonardo DiCaprio was like many people's bisexual awakening. Yeah. And there's a whole separate kind of sub call around this notion that Titanic is

actually a lesbian movie about two lesbians who fall in love on Titanic because it's Kate Winslet and another woman who is played by Leonardo DiCaprio. So he does have a very lesbian quality about him, especially in that movie and and Romeo and Juliet, I would say, for sure. So on that note, since Titanic is really your area of expertise, could you talk about some of the cultiest Titanic fan rituals, traditions, obsessive tendencies, merch, et cetera, that you've seen?

Oh my gosh. Well, speaking of merch, I just want to show you the shirt that I'm wearing right now. For the listeners at home, it is just a Titanic shirt with the kind of traditional Titanic poster. I own a Heart of the Ocean necklace. I don't wear it. I'm just like, I need this. I need this to have. And there are other just sort of shows that people create. There's a show called Titanic, which is a musical parody of the movie Titanic as told by Celine Dion, if she were a passenger on the Titanic and it's her sort of like observing and narrating the story. It's a great show that goes up in New York City. Someone who I met at Edinburgh Fringe a few years ago, did a show called Never Let Go, and it's

a solo show recreation of the movie Titanic. Okay, baby reindeer. Yes, that, but Titanic. There's also what you could maybe consider churches. I've been to a number of Titanic-themed bars and restaurants. There was one in Los Angeles called Cafe Jack. It was a restaurant that was really badly done and poorly executed and I think might have been a front for something.

It was a Titanic themed sushi restaurant and so the things on the menu were called the Titanic Roll, the Jack and Rose Roll. There was just decor that was again poorly executed around the walls of the restaurant. I went to a Titanic themed restaurant in Brussels. Right. So these are like houses of worship that you go and visit to pay homage to pilgrimage just to prove your fandom to yourself. Exactly. I just have to brag for one second that the signature cocktail that I created for my friend's 30th birthday party was called a Jack and Rose.

And it was a rose liqueur whiskey cocktail, the like four roses whiskey, and that was kind of the Jack Daniels. So it was called a Jack and Rose. I love that. Man, that makes me just wanna come over the whole menu of food and cocktails, Titanic themed. This is the fun part of being in a cult. Hi, sounds like a cult.

My name is Mary and I'm from California and I think Leonardo DiCaprio is a cult or I guess a cult leader because I fell in love with him in Titanic when I was six years old. And even though now as an adult woman, I am fully aware of what a creep he is and his reputation. He is still very much my hall pass in my marriage. Hey, culties. This is your co-host Chelsea phoning in. I think the cultiest thing about Leo is that there are rumors that he can't have casual sex unless he's wearing headphones, allegedly. I was part of the Love and Leo fan club slash cult in about 1998. I begged my parents to join. I don't know if I had to send it or

maybe I just bought it at the book fair, but it was a magazine, a poster that was supposed to be signed by him, and then dog tags that said, Love and Leo, and I wore them very, very proudly. This is a PSA for anyone who rents their home. If you haven't heard of BILT, well, then you're clearly not up to date on Sounds Like a Cult episodes, but also you're going to thank me. Listen carefully. Earning points on your rent is now a reality when you do so through BILT. You don't even have to check with your landlord before you start earning points on your rent that you can use toward flights or hotel stays, fitness classes,

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In 2025, maybe you're ready for a plot twist. Or maybe there's a part of your story that you've been waiting to revise. It may be corny, but as an author, I like to think of every day as an opportunity to pick up the pen and become the narrator of your own life. Therapy can almost be thought of as your editorial partner, helping you write new chapters and create the meaningful story you deserve to live. Oh gosh, there have been quite a few points in my life when I felt like my story was going off course literally while writing books, but also figuratively in my day-to-day life. I don't know what I would have done in those moments without my therapist, Nancy. Shout out. I first learned about BetterHelp from one of my favorite

podcasters. I remember them talking about how if you're nervous to find a therapist or if you're between therapists, it can be an option, especially because you can switch therapists anytime at no extra cost. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's fully online, making therapy affordable and convenient, serving over 5 million people worldwide. cost. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's fully online, making therapy affordable and convenient, serving over 5 million people worldwide. Write your story with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash cult today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp, h-e-l-p dot com slash cult. So thus far, we've been applying a sort of overly analytical lens to things about Leonardo DiCaprio that may or may not have been executed on purpose, just kind of trying to understand why he's

been elevated to this culty status in a way that almost doesn't have anything to do with him. Now I want to talk about some things that he has actually done that are culty and controversial. So the first thing is the sort of savior status surrounding his environmental activism. So I remember a time in the early 2000s when Leonardo DiCaprio had recently founded the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation,

advocating for climate awareness and wildlife conservation and was establishing himself as a sort of climate hero. He was the first person I ever knew about to own a Prius. Regina George wore army pants and flip-flops. So now I'm wearing army pants and flip-flops. Leonardo DiCaprio got a Prius. My parents got a Prius. And I remember them referencing him.

That's so funny. They were loving that about him. So he was lauded for this activism that he was doing only then to be accosted with accusations of hypocrisy due to his use of private jets and yachts while in the same breath advocating for all of these causes. And there has been all this public scrutiny over his carbon footprint. Do you think Leonardo DiCaprio's environmental hypocrisy is culty, or do you think it is just typical celebrity, imperfect, fallible behavior that always comes with celebrities

getting involved with any kind of activism? I feel like there is a culty component to it, and you're far more the expert on this than I am, but my impression of cult leaders is that some of them don't even believe the thing that they're culting about. It's just that they see this as an opportunity to gain power or gain money or influence, and they just want control over other people. And so they just kind of invented a thing or they are pushing for an ideology that they know people can get behind and that they have the skills to get people to get behind them. Like so many leaders of like mega churches. So I think that actually is very culty, this hypocrisy of like him saying

one thing and then almost placing the responsibility to like, Oh, well, I don't need to watch my carbon footprint because I'm above that. I'm too famous and rich and beautiful for that. But all you and almost placing the responsibility to like, oh, well, I don't need to watch my carbon footprint because I'm above that. I'm too famous and rich and beautiful for that. But all you peasants out there, you should be the ones to do it. Yeah, to go so far as to like establish yourself as a leading voice in this charitable space,

dealing with an existential concern. It's not like his activism has to do with, I don't know, the local cat sanctuary, which is existential for us as cat lovers. But like, you know, that's a little more humble. It's less savior complex-y. I would argue that like the most important issue, listen to me, like the most important issue facing our society is like the environment, the hot take. And here comes Leonardo DiCaprio being like, I'm going to save us, but do as I say, not as I do, because ultimately I am a movie star.

Yeah, I'm above the thing and so I can do whatever I want. They say that in addition to flying, one of the worst things that you can do for the environment is procreating. So counterpoint, and we haven't gotten here yet, but maybe his pattern of only dating women who are not like of appropriate age is to save the environment through not procreating and becoming fat. Nicole Sarris I mean, we do have to kind of find these compromises, right? As someone who also cares deeply about the environment and preservation and stuff like that, I'm someone who, yes, I do take flights because I like to travel and I like

to go places, but I counteract that with other things. We are so fucked. Nicole Zichal-Klein Oh, totally. No, we're definitely all full of contradictions, each of us, that could be framed as culty, I'm sure, if someone chose to look at it from a certain angle. And I think that's kind of just a part of what it means to be alive and on the internet or in public in any way whatsoever, attempting to create a meaningful life in modern society. Which actually kind of begs the question, despite Leo's sort of hypocrisies, allegedly, would we rather him not speak about the environment at all? Because I wonder what the net effect is. Like, is it, it's probably net positive.

Probably. Hard, hard to say. And I'm speculating here, but my speculation is that he's just sort of kind of putting on a show to be like, I'm a good person. Look at me caring about something. I don't know. And this might just be me here. But for me, his activism is not so much about what he is doing, but what he is not doing. And it's not as though I'm saying like every celebrity's responsibility is to talk about every single issue facing the sun. Oh, I think it's definitely not. Totally. But also, for me, it's such, and again, maybe this is another one of my half-baked

opinions here, but I feel like he's like one of the most popular and influential people in Hollywood and he has a position to advocate for far more marginalized people. He has a production company, he could be funding projects that marginalized filmmakers are making, but he's not really doing that. Instead, he's just like, drive a Prius. Well, celebrities' role in activism, it really is such an interesting and charged subject. On my other podcast, Magical Overthinkers, we have an episode on celebrity worship that goes more formally and less cheekily into the sociology of this subject. But I will say it is a relatively new, like past 20 years phenomenon that so many of us expect the celebrities that we admire,

not to just entertain us, but to save us, especially with certain cult followed women. And if I may, this connects to something called the halo effect, where a larger than life figure advocates for one cause that some of their fans care about and then some jump to the conclusion that that celebrity should then align with them on every other cause too and when they don't, they become disappointed.

Right. Now, I think if a celebrity is moved to speak out about a specific cause, whether it's the environment or more just labor practices, I don't think we should discourage that or tell them to stay in their lane, but I also don't know if it would necessarily be productive or realistic to expect every Hollywood actor to speak up about everything just because we happen to care about a cause that isn't their public priority. Maybe it's their private priority. I don't know. Or maybe it's not. Part of what's interesting about discussing the cult of celebrity in 2025 is that expectation that they are not just here to amuse us, they're here to save us. And that pop stars and actors are our

new sort of clergy. To be honest, in my real life, I truly like to just give most people the benefit of the doubt. But in the interest of melodrama and discussion for the sake of this show, we can certainly make certain speculations. Perhaps, if anything, Leo DiCaprio is able to get it up for the environment because he too lives on planet Earth. I don't know, I just, I get upset with people who have all this power

and influence and wealth and only care about issues that directly affect them. That's such a privileged place to be. I get fucking bitter about people in tech. Like Hollywood money and Hollywood influence is Henny's compared to the type of power and influence that people have in the business world, in tech. Those blessed, invisible, powerful people are the people who make me fucking angry. What is this podcast about? I'm just kidding.

It always gets you though. It is just a fascinating ongoing discussion that I don't have the answers to and I don't think anybody has a perfect take about is like, what is the role of a celebrity in activism, politics, making the world a better place? There's no playbook for like how to be an A-lister and a good person. True, very true.

Dolly Parton's done it best. Yeah, you're probably right. In general, I find his activism pretty culty because it doesn't feel genuine. It doesn't feel authentic. It feels like I'm preaching this, but I don't have to do it myself because it's too hard. Okay. So now I'm curious, culties, listeners, let us know what you think. If you go and find our Cult of Leonardo DiCaprio Instagram post at sounds like a cult pod, you can weigh in on this particular subject matter. We would love that. Okay, I wanna talk about one more of Leonardo DiCaprio's culty controversies,

and then we're gonna play a little game. This one, of course, has to do with the power dynamics found in his romantic relationship. So as we mentioned, Leonardo DiCaprio is 50 this year and he is known more than like any other actor that I can think of for dating women half his age in their early 20s. This has led to widespread criticism, jokes

about him having a cutoff age at 25 for his romantic partners. Even The Guardian has covered his dating habits in a 2022 piece titled Leonardo DiCaprio, Why Don't You Date Someone Your Own Age? Arwa Madhawi writes, quote, at 25, you have reached maturity and have a fully formed brain. You also have absolutely no chance of dating Leonardo DiCaprio. DiCaprio's predilection for women without fully formed prefrontal cortexes has become a cultural talking point and earned a name, Leo's Law, because of just how strictly

he adheres to the age limit. A few years ago, a Reddit user plugged all of DiCaprio's relationships since 1999 into Excel and came up with a viral chart that shows DiCaprio steadily aging and his many girlfriends remaining frozen in time, forever under 25. This week, a new data point became available. DiCaprio broke up with his girlfriend of four years, Camila Morrone, just a few months after her 25th birthday. It's perfectly possible for two consenting adults

to have a healthy and equitable relationship despite a significant age gap. However, it feels like a major red flag if a man consistently dates women half his age, one suspects that person isn't actually looking for a partner, but an admirer. So my last question for you, Kaitlyn, is could you armchair analyze Leo's dating history? And do you think it's cult leader-y? I think it's so cult-y the way that, again, cult leaders often just want to find a way to access power and control over other people. And it's not the age difference

necessarily, although dating someone half your age, there's bound to be a major power imbalance, but the case by case basis kind of thing. But the fact that he's made this such a pattern, and the fact that there's all this context, which is that women under the patriarchy are valued for their youth and their beauty. And once women start aging, they become far less valued by society. And so because he keeps dumping women when they turn 25 or just keep going after these, you know, very classically beautiful, all of them are like supermodels, right? So it's, you know, he's got a type and he's

got an age and he keeps going for it and going for it and going for it. And it feels very culty where he is in this position of power, not just as a celebrity who is very wealthy and who has had a heartthrob status. He's a coveted person in the public eye, but he has power in his age. And I can't help but feel he's probably just like exercising the power he has gained over these younger women. And I don't want to take away any autonomy from them because that's often been a counter criticism where it's like, well, these women are choosing to date him too. They have the autonomy to do whatever they want. And it's like fair, but it's more about, again, this pattern of behavior where he's clearly exercising his power, again, the way cult leaders

do and the way the cult leaders like try to become cult leaders so they have access to power so they can do stuff like this. So it certainly feels very culty to me. Yeah, I think it's symptomatic of the larger Hollywood cult because like, I personally know powerful Hollywood men who date women half their age. And it's a trip because like, it seems normal to them. Like they go about their day. I mean, it's so obvious that there's a power dynamic to everybody on the outside, but they don't seem to sense that. And I think part of it might have to do,

I mean, this is just like a cliched axiom that gets repeated, but they say that celebrities stop aging at the age when they got famous. They stopped maturing past that. And so Leonardo DiCaprio was very young. So that's not an excuse, but it might explain some of this pattern. And then, I mean, you could also argue

that these women are accessing some of his power. And so there's actually an exchange of power, but I don't know. I think it's just culty that this exists in Hollywood as a pattern. I think it's culty that Leo's pattern is so consistent. And it also can't be ignored that he was friends with Harvey Weinstein and underwent criticism

for not speaking out earlier during that scandal. In fact, actually now is probably a good time to mention that in the 90s, Leo and his friends were known by some, I hear, as the quote unquote pussyposse, whose sole purpose was to have sex with as many women as possible. Reports have been made that Leo's father encouraged him to lose his virginity at the age of six, which is super fucked up. And throughout his life, he was surrounded by a kind of maybe allegedly sus quantity of sexual predators from the aforementioned Harvey Weinstein to Brian Peck, a predator who we talked about in our Nickelodeon episode, David Blaine, Leo's own manager was a

predator. So I don't know where sex and Leo are concerned, there's definitely plenty of reason to get the ick and yet his reputation is still that of a dreamboat. So that's just like another data point contributing to this general feeling that like, oh, that's culty that he keeps engaging in this behavior. Yeah, it's interesting to how it is analogous, I think, to a lot of movie franchises where let's look at like Mission Impossible movie. It's always the same lead where it's like one big movie star and he's consistent throughout, but then there's like the love interest, usually a different one in each movie and they never get older. They cast new actors and who stay the same age and the guy is getting older

and older and older. And it's like, well, we need a new woman, a new fresh face for this new installment of the franchise. And she has to be, you know, 26, can't be older than that, even though this guy is pushing 50 or 60 in like the Tom Cruise example. And I'm sure people will be like, but there's the same Rebecca Ferguson's in several of the things, whatever. But you like watch any franchise like this, and it's like the man keeps aging and he stays consistent throughout,

and the woman is always recast, and she stays the same age. They don't cast anyone who is the same age. Yes, there is such permission in Hollywood from every angle for these dynamics. And yet Leonardo DiCaprio seems to be representing them like the most extremely. Yeah, in real life and not like a movie. This is his real life. And it's like maybe life shouldn't imitate art in this example.

Hey culties, this is your co-host Reese phoning in. And I think the cultiest thing about Leonardo DiCaprio is how he sort of built his celebrity image around his tragic losses and then kind of his tragic losses and then kind of took advantage of the people's sympathy in order to manipulate them and kind of start a cult in his own right and date exclusively women under 25. I've never found him super cute or attractive Titanic was just okay hashtag hot take I don get it. I don't get the obsession. I don't get the infatuation. And I think that he clings to youth as a way to stay relevant. I think he's a great actor.

I'm not gonna, I mean, gotta give kudos, but yeah, I just don't get it. Okay, I feel like we have pretty thoroughly discussed Leonardo DiCaprio's cult influence. Before we get to our verdict though, I want to play a little game. This is a classic sounds like a cult game. It is called culty quotes. So I'm going to read a sequence of quotes to you.

Some of them were uttered by classic cult leaders from history. Some of them were uttered by Leonardo DiCaprio and you're going to have to guess whether each quote was said by Leo or a cult leader. I'm gonna be really bad at this, but I can't wait. I'm so excited. It's way more fun if you're bad at it. Okay, awesome. The first quote says,

I think I will always feel like an outsider. I could see Leonardo DiCaprio saying something like that. You are correct. That was Leonardo DiCaprio. Good job. Being hot is so lonely. No one understands me. It's so hard. Okay, second quote. I love being immersed in nature, going to places in the world that are pristine and untouched by man. It's almost a religious experience

when you go to a place like the Amazon and there's no civilization for thousands of miles. You go to a place like the Amazon and there's no civilization for thousands of miles. I feel like that could also be Leonardo DiCaprio. You are correct. Okay. I'm better at this than I thought. There he goes flying around the world doing things for the environment. And by doing things for the environment, we mean going on vacation in the environment. Yes, yes.

Okay. Next quote. I never thought I was normal. Never tried to be normal. Let's say cult leader. You are correct. That's Charles Manson. Which is like very similar to the first quote we heard Leonardo Caprio say. Yeah. Male cult leaders always have a chip on their shoulder.

Next quote. My mission is a cosmic mission. Let's say Leo. Oh, that was Reverend Sun Young Moon, leader of the Unification Church, aka the Moonies. Okay. Thank God we finally got you. But I thought like that does sound like a marketing line for his foundation. Does it not? Mm hmm.

Okay, two more. Next quote. Let me clarify this very definitely. This is not an authoritarian organization. I want to say Leo. And if that's true, I want to know what he's talking about. Okay. So that is L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology. That makes more sense. Because like a cult, just like a religion, is a business.

And so I do find that it's funny whenever a cult leader talks about like the business aspect of their organization, they automatically sound like, oh, that's something that I could have heard like a CEO say or like Mark Zuckerberg on it being deposed. Right. Also another example of someone who didn't believe the cult they invented. He was a science fiction writer who's like, I'm just going to invent a religion and try to get rich off this because I wasn't a very successful writer. Listen, again, chip on that shoulder. But it's good to be nimble. It's good to pivot, you know? He's so versatile, just like Leonardo DiCaprio. He has so much range as an actor.

Yes. All right, last quote. I'm not the kind of person who tries to be cool or trendy. I'm definitely an individual. That's got to be Leo. Ding'm definitely an individual. That's gotta be Leo. Ding, ding, ding. That is Leo. That's such bullshit. He cares so much about his image. Without question.

Why else would he be dating 25-year-old supermodels? -♪ Woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, woo, Caitlin, we've reached that portion of the Sounds Like a Cult episode where I have to ask, out of our three cult categories, live your life, watch your back, and get the fuck out. Which cult category do you think the Cult of Leonardo DiCaprio falls into? Oh, this one feels a little tricky because it doesn't feel that harmful to belong to the cult of Leonardo DiCaprio, at least on the surface. But if you are a kind of like dude bro, who's like, he's my fucking idol and I love this guy and I love his characters, they're so aspirational, that's an ideology that's like contributing to the downfall of the world,

i.e. the patriarchy. So I don't know. I would say it's probably the first one, because it's not that harmful, but like the psychology of celebrity obsession. You know, you do have these like figures who people become obsessed with, celebrities who we idolize and we say, oh, they can do nothing wrong. And obviously he's faced his fair share of criticism, but he's still a very prominent figure in Hollywood. I don't see him going away anytime soon. I think your instinct is right. I think it's a live your life. I think Leonardo DiCaprio has maybe taken advantage of his power in these like little cult of one type ways with his romantic relationships. And he's maybe a little bit opportunistic

when it comes to his activism. But there are Hollywood figures who go way farther with their cult leader role, whether you're talking about like Taylor Swift. I mean, I think I've even leaned into like a cult leader role as the host of Sounds Like a Cult more than Leonardo DiCaprio. I swear to God, he's like not leaned in to like any of the fan ritual. As far as I can tell, he's not out here Jared Leto-ing,

you know, like coming up with a sleepover for all of his fans. What? That happened? Oh, my God. It's a long story, but yeah, I think, like, he is a cult-followed figure in spite of himself. He has a cult-y approach to some of his relationships and just, like, the way that he moves through the world, but, like, as far

as the cult of Leonardo DiCaprio overall, I think it's a live your life. Like if you want to throw those Titanic parties, invite me to co-host like have a great old time, live your life. You're going to make some delicious cocktails and yeah, it feels pretty harmless for the most part. And I think the way that he's exploiting his power as a cult leader is mostly to get beautiful girlfriends. So you know. And he's not even trying to have more than one at the same time really.

I mean he probably is, but like not in a way that's special. The ways that he is problematic, I don't even necessarily think are all that culty. Could be worse for sure. Well, that's fucking boring, I'm just kidding. I am glad that we talked about this. I do hope to do Shrek in the future. Oh my gosh, please. We'll circle back.

Caitlin, thank you so much for being here. If folks wanna keep up with you and your work and your pod and your cult, where can they do that? Oh my gosh, you can follow the cult of Kaitlyn Durante on my Instagram at Kaitlyn Durante. Actually, I am a bit of a cult leader in the sense that I have convinced so many people to watch the Paddington movies. I can't wait to watch it. I've heard such good things. Well join my cult. Paddington Bear is one of my style icons along with Madeline. Yeah, those duffel coats and those wide brimmed hats.

That's what I'm saying. Primary colors? Yup, yup. So the Paddington movies are awesome. Otherwise you can follow the Cult of the Bechdel cast anywhere you find podcasts. Check out Amanda's Poor Things episode. We've covered 500 movies over the course of the past several years, either on our main feed or our Patreon, aka Matreon. Okay, feminism. So chances are if you've got a favorite movie that you want to hear our feminist analysis on, we've probably covered

it. Amazing. Well, thank you so much again for joining us and thank you culties for tuning in. That is our show. We'll be back with a new cult next week. But in the meantime, stay culty. But not too culty. Sounds Like a Cult was created by Amanda Montell and edited by Jordan Moore of the PodCappen. This episode was hosted by Amanda Montell.

Our managing producer is Katie Epperson. Our theme music is by Casey Cole. If you enjoyed the show, we'd really appreciate it if you could leave it five stars on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. It really helps the show a lot. And if you like this podcast, feel free to check out my book, Cultish, the Language of Fanaticism, which inspired the show. You might also enjoy my other books, The Age of Magical Overthinking, Notes on Modern check out my book, Cultish, the Language of Fanaticism, which inspired the show. You might also enjoy my other books, The Age of Magical Overthinking, Notes on Modern

Irrationality, and Wordslet, A Feminist's Guide to Taking Back the English Language. Thanks as well to our network, Studio 71. And be sure to follow the Sounds Like a Cult cult on Instagram for all the discourse at Sounds Like a Cult Pod or support us on Patreon to listen to the show ad free at patreon.com slash sounds like a cult. Here's the thing. In these uncertain times, Ontario businesses need certain relief. The WSIB is giving $2 billion in rebates back to Ontario businesses. Find yours by logging into your account at wsib.ca slash online services. If you haven't heard of BILT, you're going to thank me. Earning points on your rent that you can use toward flights or hotel stays or even your

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